Mated Queens.

[Millet]

I am under such pressure to get going that I haven't even begun to give it much thought. Virtually no drone brood yet let alone anything else. Bees are barely in the supers and although that was a sharpish comment it is on the mark. Things are VERY late indeed probably the latest I have known personally.

I was chatting to a keen birder yesterday and there are no house martins reported that he knows of unless you know better?

PH

House Martins and Swifts on the outskirts of Hartlepool..

 

[SDM]

18 confirmed laying yesterday( nkthing sealed yet but its far too early in their window to be drone layers)and the other 7 have fattened up and are being treated like queens( with a ring of attendants). Nice timing as the next batch due to emerge in 4 days.
Batch 3 grafted yesterday.
Timing to hit this period of weather was as much good luck as good judgement. I just started grafting 2 weeks after the first drone frames emerged.

 

[beeno]

Four house martins spotted whilst having pub lunch on Monday.

 

[BMH]

18 confirmed laying yesterday( nkthing sealed yet but its far too early in their window to be drone layers)and the other 7 have fattened up and are being treated like queens( with a ring of attendants). Nice timing as the next batch due to emerge in 4 days.
Batch 3 grafted yesterday.
Timing to hit this period of weather was as much good luck as good judgement. I just started grafting 2 weeks after the first drone frames emerged.

Same here.

I've learnt though that if you wait for the good weather it tends to be nice while they are sealed and hammer it down when they emerge.

Always a gamble.

Paid off nicely this year.

 

[Wingy]

Did a split 3 weeks ago placing 3 frames of BIAS with 2 QC's & stores + 2 foundation into nuc. Checked on Monday both cells open but couldn't find Q. Yesterday about 1 in 7 bees entering were carrying pollen so a good sign. Will check in tomorrow weather permitting as it's forecast rain. But looking promising

 

[BMH]

Did a split 3 weeks ago placing 3 frames of BIAS with 2 QC's & stores + 2 foundation into nuc. Checked on Monday both cells open but couldn't find Q. Yesterday about 1 in 7 bees entering were carrying pollen so a good sign. Will check in tomorrow weather permitting as it's forecast rain. But looking promising

Bees returning carrying pollen is only a sign that there is pollen available to be foraged. Dwindling queenless colonies will still forage pollen.

Saying that, looks like you have timed it well the weather so the chance is it will be mated.

 

[Insy]

1 Confirmed mated and laying, lots of virgins running around should be mated or fattening up as we speak fingers crossed I did a split on the 12th no queen cells present letting them pull a load of fresh eggs out for cells.
Went in 10-11 days later expecting loads of queen cells to cull or play with, to find several capped cells, several ready to cap cells and to my surprise a dark virgin queen bolting round a frame like the flash which Im very confused about as it had been nowhere near 21 days not complaining tho

 

[Stiffy]

First batch mostly mated, second batch will be in mini nucs soon. Nothing clever but just goes to show How the UK can have very different weather
S

 

[For want of a better word]

Very first prime swarm of bees up by Sibleyback lake yesterday... very dark bees..... possibly swarmed from a chimney that the landowners said had had bees in for years!
Also offer of a new out apiary if I promise to put Cornish Amm in there!
First eggs seen in nucs made up from early splits.... and cut comb just about ready for the Royal Cornwall!!!

Happy Days

Yeghes da

 

[Roola]

6 mated and laying well here in London.

 

[Millet]

You all make me Sick ..

 

[oliver90owner]

Getting mated is not the whole story. Getting mated properly is likely to require more than one day of good weather, so some of these mated queens may run out of sperm far earlier than expected, resulting in extra supercedures, some at awkward times.

But some don’t even think about it.

 

[mbc]

I've had drones for a month and a half and did my fourth graft last night completed in torch light. The first batch are due to be inspected next week and I'm hoping most will be mated with sealed brood for assessment so as I can harvest them and place the new cells as I'm reaching capacity with mating nucs.
As noted elsewhere on the thread the progression of the season can be very different dependant on location.

 

[B+.]

Getting mated is not the whole story. Getting mated properly is likely to require more than one day of good weather, so some of these mated queens may run out of sperm far earlier than expected, resulting in extra supercedures, some at awkward times.

But some don’t even think about it.

I've seen people saying how many drones they have, but not whether they're mature.
It can take 2 weeks for drones to mature after emergence, yet nobody seems to be testing them.

 

[Wingy]

Bees returning carrying pollen is only a sign that there is pollen available to be foraged. Dwindling queenless colonies will still forage pollen.

Saying that, looks like you have timed it well the weather so the chance is it will be mated.

Thing is this (up until now) was not a dwindling colony as I placed frames containing BIAS including eggs the last have only just emerged & with the young bees to start with they still have a few weeks before they die off. So the nuc is already quite full
Weather was too bad on Friday to check & now away until Tuesday but once confirmed laying this nuc won't be far off needing a full hive.

 

[Poly Hive]

My drones are still under their cappings.

I am not even thinking about grafting for another two to three weeks at the earliest.

Sometimes I envy those to the south then I remember the overcrowding and traffic noise. I'd rather listen to the birds here with the odd bleat from mums calling in the lambs for a drink.

PH

 

[Millet]

My drones are still under their cappings.

I am not even thinking about grafting for another two to three weeks at the earliest.

Sometimes I envy those to the south then I remember the overcrowding and traffic noise. I'd rather listen to the birds here with the odd bleat from mums calling in the lambs for a drink.

PH

One thing i have no shortage of is Drones, i had drones in two hives on my first inspection a few weeks back, it is the shortage of nice weather that is the problem 10c yesterday and ranging between 13c/15c today but the easterlies are making it coat weather.

 

[Hivemaker.]

It can take 2 weeks for drones to mature after emergence

Much better at three here, so much so that I no longer bother collecting two week old drones.

 

[B+.]

Much better at three here, so much so that I no longer bother collecting two week old drones.

I meant it as a minimum.
Drones are fragile things and temperature, food, etc can affect their fertility.
It's not enough to say they're there.

 

[B+.]

One thing i have no shortage of is Drones, i had drones in two hives on my first inspection a few weeks back, it is the shortage of nice weather that is the problem 10c yesterday and ranging between 13c/15c today but the easterlies are making it coat weather.

cold can affect the migration of sperm.

Use the following technique to test for maturity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVjLkUVt-Lg&list=PLbr7jvL12x97ykLIwdALgSUZBI8JWyetL)

If you see orange tipped cornua and the abdomen contracts and becomes hard, that's a good indication at the partial eversion stage. At the full eversion, you should see cappuccino coloured sperm on a bed of white mucus